There are various situations in which it may be beneficial or useful to prevent access to a cabinet or room. For example, it is common to use safety covers for door knobs to prevent children, people suffering from mental or other disorders, and others from accessing these areas. Typically, these door knob covers do not prevent access but merely make it difficult for these individuals to access by providing a hinderance to turning the door knob.
However, some homes utilize door levers that move upward or downward to open a cabinet or door, rather than being rotated as is the case for door knobs. As a result, a cover for the door lever is not practical and would not serve the function of preventing access. While sometimes these door levers have locks, the locks are frequently automatically unlocked when the door handle is rotated from the interior side of the door (i.e. inside of the building or room). Thus, the only way to prevent unlocking and opening of the door by children or others is to prevent movement of the door lever.
One known device for providing a hinderance to movement of the door lever is shown in FIG. 1A. The device is manufactured by Safety 1st. The device 1 has a backing 10 attached to a door. A first lever 12 is positioned above a door lever 20 and extends perpendicular from the back portion 10. The first lever 12 is not moveable and prevents upward movement of the door lever 20. As a result, the device 1 is required to be removed to move the door lever 20 in an upward direction. A second lever 14 is positioned a distance below the first lever 12. The second lever 14 is moveable from a downward position, shown in FIG. 1B to the upward position shown in FIG. 1A. On each side of the second lever 14 are buttons 18a (only one of two buttons shown) that are pressed to permit movement of the second lever 14 from the downward position to the upward, locked position.
The device 1 has several deficiencies. First, the first lever 12 is not moveable and cannot be moved to permit upward movement of the door lever 20. Second, even if the device 1 is in the open position such that the door lever 20 can be moved, the first lever 12 is positioned right above the door lever 20 making it difficult to grasp and move the door lever 20. Third, the second lever 14 moves upward and downward and remains in the path of movement for the door lever 20. Accordingly, even in the open position, the second lever 14 is a hinderance to grasping and moving the door lever 20 downward to open the door. Therefore, the device 1 has numerous deficiencies that prevent it from being installed to prevent access while permitting access when required.